Art, Politics & Power 2017 Study Travel to Belgium & The Netherlands

My free day consisted of one of my favorite word. It’s eight letters. Can you guess it?? SHOPPING!! The Europeans have it right here! The fashion is absolutely beautiful. The colors and styles it’s all just ahhhhhh. I don’t know how to explain it any better the culture here embeddes themselves in the fashion. It’s such a huge part of their everyday lives and I love every bit of it. I can’t add more than to just say I love it. And I can’t wait to bring back the colors and fashion but also a little piece of their everyday styles and designs.

And to add to my fantastic day, at the end I got to go out and have a girls night, typically for women you know who can go out to bars and drink, and go out and talk and relax. It was probably the most stress free day I have had in a long time. I don’t promote drinking or anything like that but the fact that I could go out and just have a nice time with a good friend or friends was just the cherry on top of the whole night.

Today was our free day in Ghent and also our last day in Ghent. Belgium has been amazing and absolutely freezing. On my free day I spent it shopping and I’ll be honest sleeping. After Lillian let us go me & Elisia went straight to the stores on the Main Street. We started out at Zorro and then made our way to many different European stores. We also went to Lush and NYX. After a long afternoon of shopping we went straight to the hotel to shower and sleep. I really enjoyed having the chance to have the afternoon off to really enjoy the shopping and the culture of Ghent.

I had the chance to end my night with one of my good friends on the trip at a very nice bar. You could select many different drinks and finger foods to try. We both ordered Blue Lagoons and Craquetts which are brand new for me. Everything tasted so great and it was just a fun way to end the day!

Yesterday we finally had a day to just walk around the lovely city of Ghent and see whichever sites we wanted to see. But first, we got a small talk/introduction of Ghent by a local tour guide (Christine (?)). She went into details about how Belgium is, what the tax system here is like, and even which sports are most highly appreciated (it’s cycling, btw). But what really interested me the most was the government compensation. Here in Belgium if you have one child you get over a 100 euros to help pay for the care of raising your child; and the more and more children you have, the more money the government provides. I thought this was really something important and smart the government was doing here, because a lot of families in the states (especially single mothers) can have a hard time paying for child care needs. And if there’s a bad economy the parents wouldn’t have to worry as much about their child eating every day since they do have that government funds.

After the tour we split up and walked around the city. I think this was really my favorite part: I was able to talk to locals and shop owners and experience Ghent in more depth. It was so exciting to experience the city & more chocolate! There was one clothing store that stood out especially. The clothing was made out of all organic materials and the funds went directly to help people in need, and give them clothing. It was definitely something you don’t see everyday.

Yesterday morning we were graced by the presence of a Belgian local who shared information about the culture of both the city and the country we were visiting. She answered all of the questions we presented about music, social issues, and other items of discussion. The most interesting thing she said was that people, including adolescents and young adults, listened to a lot of jazz music. She also gave us a tour of the city so that we wouldn’t feel so lost when we had time to ourselves, which was incredibly helpful. The more we walked around the more I wanted to learn a bit of Dutch, rent an apartment, and live there for a few months.

For lunch most of the group went to a fancily decorated waffle restaurant. The walls were painted green with gold accents, and a chandelier hung from the ceiling. I am not a huge fan of breakfast foods, so while everyone else ordered waffles I had a bowl of some delicious spaghetti. However, the small mocha I ordered did come with a tiny waffle! I love the sugar cubes that come with the coffee so much more than the pastel splenda packets that are offered back home.

After lunch we split into smaller groups and roamed around the city to buy chocolates, souvenirs, and other various items. There was a bit of snow on the cobblestones, and a mist hung over the buildings, which turned the city to a beautiful silver. The streets were filled with shoppers weaving in and out of the road as bicycles sped by. I was able to explore a secondhand bookstore which was something I had hoped I would be able to do. It had at least five floors filled with books written in Dutch. I love writing and reading poetry, so I picked up a few small poetry collections so that I can try and translate them when I have time either on the trip or back in North Carolina.

Later on some folks and I went and got dinner at a very nice restaurant. It was a lot of fun, and we had the nicest waitress! I didn’t take any pictures of the evening though.

Yesterday was our free day to venture around the city of Ghent. We started the day as a group and met with Lillian’s friend, Christine, who lives in Ghent. She gave us some insight on some questions we had regarding some of the culture and everyday life in Belgium. My favorite part of meeting with Christine was when she took us around the city and showed us some of the local spots that she enjoyed which we didn’t get to see on our other tour of Ghent. She showed us her favorite chocolate stores and good places to shop. After, we went to the oldest waffle shop in Belgium and enjoyed some amazing Belgian waffles and hot coffee.

After lunch, a few friends and I went to some chocolate shops and local places to shop for souvenirs and then eventually found our way back to the hotel where we got some much needed rest. Last night, nine of us went to dinner at a nice restaurant and enjoyed some good food and drinks to celebrate our last night in Belgium. Today we are on our way to Antwerp where we will take a tour of the city before we head to Amsterdam tonight!

 

Yesterday, we began the day with a question and answer period with Lillian’s friend, Christine. We learned about the life of someone living in Belgium, how their education system works, traditions practiced in this country, and typical opinions of an individual living here. I found it most interesting when she talked about how many different languages she was taught to speak as a child. As a student and child growing up in America, I was only taught one language and really never thought anything of it. In school, we were never offered a language class until our freshman year. Even then, we were really not forced or strongly encouraged to learn a new language, but kind of got the basics. Other than learning about the major language learning differences, we additionally learned interesting information on the life of a Belgian. To top off our time with her, she took us around different areas of Gent that we had not seen before and were pointed to different shops and chocolate stores.

Christine then dropped us off to eat some of the original and oldest style Belgian waffles in Gent. These were truly great and it was fun to experience to be in this cute waffle cafe.

After this, a few of us went to the shops… despite me swearing to myself that I would not buy anything due to my bag being extra heavy already. However, there was a shop that I simply could not pass up. Lillian took us to a really amazing shop ran by a man who has devoted his life helping the children of Nepal. I was really moved by his efforts, so decided to buy a sweater! I am glad to have made this purchase… but I also bought some chocolate and a scarf as well lol.

  After waffles, shopping, and a much needed nap, I went out with a group of friends to grab some dinner. This food was great and our waitress was even greater! This was easily the best meal I have had. All-in-all, my day off was well spent and very memorable! 🙂

Today was a very very interesting but long day. We went to museum after cathedral after museum after museum in the freezing cold….but the best part of today was the water bed forest. The “Water Bed Forest” as I like to describe it was in the last museum of the day. It’s actually funny because originally I was hoping we could skip the last museum because I was just so exhausted but it turned out to be the best part for many reasons. The last museum we went to was the MSK. We had a lovely older Belgium woman guide us all day and gave us art lesson after history lesson. After she took us around the MSK she gave us an hour to explore on our own and see what we could find. Immediately walking into the museum I was a huge room in the back with what looked like a jungle with trees and items hanging down from them. I walked down the stairs into the gorgeous room and found the most relaxing & just a beautiful setting. There were objects you wouldn’t think of hanging from the ceiling to create a jungle theme. I walked over to one of the trees and laid down on this bing bag mattress. I’ve never been so comfy in my life. All of the sudden, a strong smell of Violet hit me like a bus. There was a violet scent coming from the mattress. I looked up and saw items such as gloves and old cell phones hanging from the tree. I heard faint soothing music and cricket noises in the background. I was so calm after laying there. I then looked over and saw my friends jumping on the other mattress. I had no clue what the difference was between the one I was on and the one they were bouncing off of. I walked over there and soon came to the realization that they were lying on a water mattress. I’ve never been on a water mattress before so it was a once in a lifetime opportunity in my eyes. I sat on the mattress slowly and the water pushed me back up. I laid down and felt like I was floating on water. It was the coolest and most entertaining experience I’ve had in a long time…..well besides being in Europe lol. I felt as if I was a young kid again bouncing on and off. This was a great experience to have at the end of a very long and tiresome day. Btw I’ve now asked my parents for a water mattress to take to college lol!